Puzzle 1
Starter clue: S = E
EQDSFQINWOMCWOLINKFMKTKTSDQACMCZ-ASW,MOKTSPSGSAZQKIHSLANPSCQIZT.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
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- R
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- X
- Y
- Z
Hard Cryptograms Set 123
6 cryptograms to solve with a pencil. Each letter of the quote has been swapped for another letter, and the same swap holds all the way through.
20 pt ciphertext — the size a newspaper puzzle page never gives you. 26 pt ciphertext with wide letter spacing and room to write. Both sizes print on US Letter with the answer key on its own page.
Printing this web page instead? Press Ctrl+P (⌘+P on a Mac). The navigation and buttons drop away, and the answer key prints on its own page — open it below first if you want it included.
The puzzles
Puzzle 2
Starter clue: F = T
YMFKRAXNFRDYXDNXLFKYNWPV,TKYSKFKRDQWRZQBFYFQWRSPBBFKRPLFRDMXXM.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: W = T
PWPAWIIGHOCWITUBTOWINFOFWWCFWACTACIHXZAPWJMWCTGPXYFKZKIWXFBPW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: K = N
GLDADNADELZAGXNOENKXWZKB;GLDQZZKLNEYGERDAYZXEZVCNKYKBNKXCNPYKB.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: D = E
AQDAUPDPEDHKECDDWQLEYHAEHIPWQAHDFCUDEEHPUNXYAEXEAHWHYWDXTAQDI.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: V = T
KJKZAVYESBYVCYQIYBKHQSMLHFNQKVAVYZECQHVEVYKCEZPF,LPVKZMVYKCEZPF.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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- R
- S
- T
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- X
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Solver's cheat sheet
- Most common letters
- E T A O I N S H R D L U
- Most common 1-letter words
- A I
- Most common 2-letter words
- OF TO IN IT IS BE AS AT SO WE HE BY OR ON DO IF ME MY UP AN GO NO US AM
- Most common 3-letter words
- THE AND FOR ARE BUT NOT YOU ALL ANY CAN HER WAS ONE OUR OUT DAY GET HAS HIM HIS HOW MAN NEW NOW OLD SEE TWO WAY WHO BOY DID ITS LET PUT SAY SHE TOO USE
- Common double letters
- LL EE SS OO TT FF RR NN PP CC
- Common word endings
- -ING -ION -ENT -TION -LY -ED -ER -EST
- After an apostrophe
- T (don't) S (it's) RE (we're) VE (I've) LL (we'll) D (I'd)
Want this on its own sheet? Print the letter frequency chart.
Show the answer key (6 solutions)
- “Some would find fault with the morning-red, if they ever got up early enough.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1854, WaldenCipher key: A=R B=C C=N D=M E=S F=W G=V H=P I=U J=B K=T L=A M=I N=L O=F P=Y Q=O R=X S=E T=H U=Q V=J W=D X=Z Y=K Z=G
- “In the posteriors of this day, which the rude multitude call the afternoon.”— William Shakespeare, 1597, Love's Labour's Lost, Act V. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=P B=L C=X D=R E=K F=T G=Q H=B I=Z J=G K=H L=F M=N N=S O=J P=A Q=U R=E S=C T=W U=V V=Y W=D X=O Y=I Z=M
- “It is too much to expect of a cat that she should sit by the milk and not lap it.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=S B=P C=H D=Q E=W F=A G=M H=U I=O J=B K=N L=G M=Y N=F O=C P=I Q=J R=Z S=V T=E U=X V=R W=T X=L Y=K Z=D
- “There are short days and long; the moon has its periods of waning and waxing.”— Sun Tzu, 1910, The Art of War (Lionel Giles translation, 1910)Cipher key: A=R B=G C=W D=E E=S F=K G=T H=U I=Q J=B K=N L=H M=J N=A O=Y P=X Q=M R=P S=Z T=V U=C V=F W=L X=D Y=I Z=O
- “The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.”— Oliver Goldsmith, 1759, The Bee, No. III. Oct. 20, 1759 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=Z C=P D=E E=S F=X G=B H=O I=M J=K K=F L=I M=J N=W O=V P=U Q=H R=Y S=G T=L U=R V=D W=C X=A Y=N Z=Q
- “Every thought which genius and piety throw into the world, alters the world.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844, Essays: Second SeriesCipher key: A=Y B=G C=W D=K E=O F=D G=J H=N I=C J=V K=E L=A M=S N=P O=Q P=L Q=I R=M S=U T=X U=F V=T W=Z X=B Y=H Z=R